Altec-Lansing Voice of the Theater (Huge Speakers) ... I let them go 3 years ago
Wharfedale Model W30 (Loudspeakers with sand-filled back panels)
Electro-Voice Patrician (my father's when I was a kid)

Superb system. Next to Andrew Robinson, I`m a big Mcintosh fan as well. Rock solid as they are. Dynaco amps I used for deejaying. They took a lot of abuse and kept on playing. I started a Dynaco thread a few weeks ago, where was everyone..........

Back in college I lived in a moldy $30/month room in the basement of our frat house. Had a waterbed and my art collection was a giant map of the Mississippi River covering the wall.

But... I had double Advents (walnut) and a Dynaco Stereo 400 amp (with VU meters!) that I built from a kit. Philips 212 tt and Shure V-15III. The pre was a Pioneer Spec 1. I had a few of the non-science majors convinced that the big preamp volume knob was required because it was "geared low" to handle the 200 wpc power amp.

I later replaced the Spec 1 with a Quad 33 and the double Advents with Infinity 2000 AXT's. The AXT's had Walsh tweeters as opposed to the electrostatic 2000A's. I kept blowing the voice coils on the Walsh tweeters until I learned to rewind them with heavier wire. I did all the calculations of wire gauge/# turns/inductance/coil momentum, etc. They quit blowing but sounded like crap. I don't see how the AXT's could have shared the number 2000 with the A's. I'd still like to find a pair of the electrostats.

Post graduate apartment life brought Maggie MG-2's, DCM Time Windows and later some Tympani 1-D's. My then-girlfriend hated them because of their size, so I replaced them with Kef 104.2's, which I still have (with Sunfire sub). And yes, I married the girlfriend and she's still putting up with me 20 years later.

In the basement I have a pair of Snell Type C II's powered by an AES SET-1 tube amp with WE 300B tubes. Control is by an Adcom 565 preamp; sources are an Adcom cd changer and a Luxman turntable with Grado cartridge & Creek Audio pre-pre. This system still excites me more than the main HT system upstairs.

I sat down last week and put some of my old vinyl LP's on the Linn. I turned up the AM1200 Quad and listened to my DQ-10's. "Siegfied's Funeral March" (from Wagner's "Dei Götterdämmerung") made the hairs all over stand on end. The horns and deep bass strings were truly haunting in the very literal sense of the word. You could feel the solemnity in the air. Later, to listen to G.F.Handel's Coronation Anthems, especially the opening chorus of "Zadok the Priest", and hear the several parts of the choir and to be able to separate them across and into the soundstage was pure pleasure in the music. I enjoy greatly taking the time to sit quietly and sink deep down into the music whilst still maintaining a critical ear.

I read with interest "jhidinger's" note that he also found the Dahlquist DQ-10's a bit lifeless at lower levels. That is where my Gale Gold Monitor Mk II's come in. Julie London singing "Black Coffee" or "Come on Over to My Place" or especially "Cry Me a River" at lower levels make you think she is sitting right in front of you and singing to you alone.

As an aside, my Dahlquists are non-mirrored and apart from replacing the foam roll surrounds on the bass drivers four years ago, are totally original. I have tried several times to contact Regnar regarding the upgrade available for the DQ-10's but so far without success. Has anybody done the upgrade and how much difference did it make? And was any difference for the better or worse? And with our currencies approaching parity, I hope that it will now fall into afforability.

This was a fascinating thread. I saw numerous personal favorites in these lists, including the Macintosh and Dynaco systems.
I built quite a few Dynaco amps and preamps myself and was always amazed at the audio quality for so little cost. Not being able to afford the 'high-end' Macintosh at the time, these sufficed.
I didn't see two of my personal top choices however.
My Hafler DH-500 amp and DH101 (and later the 110) are STILL running and sound quite good.
Pair that up with my Weathers Capacitance Turntable (actually FM oscillator) and you have an amazing system.....that is over 35 years old.
Nice trip down memory lane here.
Cheers!